The thrilling extra-inning contest where the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 drew a combined 51 million watchers in the US, Canadian, and Japanese markets. MLB stated this represents the highest-rated Fall Classic Game 7 after the 1991 edition showdown between the Twins and Atlanta Braves.
Broadcast Ratings Breakdown
The Saturday memorable game averaged over 27 million viewers on Fox channels, Fox Deportes and their digital services. Per ratings data, it was the second most-watched broadcast of the previous week.
It also is the top-rated Fall Classic matchup after the 2017 final game between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, which averaged over 29 million. This represents a 16% improvement compared to the last finale featuring the Washington Nationals and Astros, which attracted 23.19 million.
In the weekly rankings, Game 6 placed 4th, Game 4 ranked seventh, Game 5 was 8th, and Game 3 landed in 13th place.
Global Audience Numbers
In Canada, the game drew 11.6M watchers on the Sportsnet network and the French-language TVA Sports channel. This was the most-watched English program in the country after the 2010 edition Winter Olympics.
In the Japanese market, where the deciding game started at 9 PM local time, it averaged 12 million. This followed the previous Friday’s sixth game – where World Series MVP Yamamoto allowed one run in six frames – drew 13.1M spectators, making it the most-watched World Series matchup on a single network in the country.
Series Totals and Patterns
The entire seven-game series averaged 15.71 million audience members on the Fox network, a 2% increase from the previous year’s Dodgers-Yankees series. This marks the initial instance since 2015 and 2016 that the World Series has recorded viewership growth for two consecutive seasons.
Including the Game 1 broadcast on Univision, the complete American viewership reached 16.1M. The overall World Series average in the Japanese market was 9.7 million and 8.1M in the Canadian market.
The complete playoffs on Fox, FS1 and FS2 drew 8.09M watchers, an eight percent rise over last year and the network’s strongest postseason ratings since the 2017 season.
MLB reported that the World Series was televised in 203 nations and regions by 44 media partners in sixteen various languages.
